Cashew Nuts: 18+ Advantages And Disadvantages

If you just love cashews for their delicious buttery taste or really cherish it as evening snacks, there is more to love here.

Cashews are not just rich in proteins but all different types of vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients as well.

They also have a great amount of copper and magnesium which is highly required by the body on a daily basis.

But then, it also contains high sodium content as well which can cause health issues. Especially if you don’t eat cashews in moderation.

In case you are thinking of putting it in your diet and wondering about its pros and cons, here are all the advantages and disadvantages of cashew nuts.

Also, don’t forget to go through the nutrition breakdown of the cashews and see where it can fit in your diet plan or just regular routine.

Pros Of Eating Cashew Nuts

Most Convenient High Source Of Protein

The cashew is one of the high sources of good-quality protein where you will be getting 18 gms of protein on consuming every 100g of cashew.

But More than that, it is also the most convenient source of protein to eat anytime you want.

It is so easy to eat it as a quick snack whenever your energy levels are going down or feel unsatiated.

Cashews are also very easy to carry. You can just have plenty of them in a pouch, small container, or small bag.

You definitely would want it to be contained well in the air-tight bag or container as it will start getting perish if left out in the normal environment.

Cashews are also great in bringing different varieties of snacks where they can be sweet, salty, tangy or spicy.

All you have to do is mix the right spices or mixture while light frying it. So, there are multiple flavoring options as well.

It Contains Mono-saturated fats that protect your heart

Cashews are known to be a powerhouse of energy and protein without having too much fat in it.

In fact, Cashews are naturally found to have lower fat content than most of the other nuts where you see a high or moderate level of fat content.

But that’s not all, even whatever fat content it has, they are mono-saturated which is quite healthy for your heart.

It is kind of the same fat that you find in the cold-pressed olive oil. So, cashews are not unhealthy for your heart.

Cashews, hence proven to be a great companion food with a low-fat diet where it will also help to reduce triglycerides.

Lowering the triglycerides helps in easing up the pressure in your blood vessels along with your heart activity as well.

This also means that cashews are good in controlling diabetes and still can be your go-to heart-friendly healthy snack.

Cashews Are Packed With Nutrients, Minerals, and Vitamins

To really understand how nutritious cashews are, you need to break down its nutritious value including vitamins and minerals.

Here is what you get in 30 gms of cashews which is only 15 to 17 cashews :

83 mg of Magnesium
600 mg of Copper
10 mg of Calcium
1.9 mg of Iron
187 mg of Potassium

Also, it has micronutrients and other elements that covers up a certain percentage of your daily dose required in your body :

10% of the daily dose of Selenium
7% of the daily dose of Vitamin B6
10% of the daily dose of Thiamine
8% of the daily dose of Vitamin K

Cashews Are High In Antioxidants

The human body has free radicals, which are basically the compounds that intend to harm your body or it become harmful at elevated levels.

It is something that can lead to multiple diseases. The enemy of free radicals are antioxidants.

Antioxidants are good for your body. They are the molecules that help you eradicate free radicals in your body.

Cashews have an abundance of antioxidants, and there it is highly beneficial for your body to fight against free radicals in your body.

Not just that, it overall makes the psychological condition of your entire system stable and strong.

This helps your body to attain moderate blood glucose levels, better heart health, and even reduces the risk of cancer.

Cashews Has Low Glycemic Index (GI)

Apart from the Chestnuts, only Cashew is the nut with enough carbohydrate content to enter on the GI scale.

If you look at the GI scale, you will find Cashews to have a pretty low GI rating, something around 26.

When you mix the Cashews, a food that rates low on GI scale with other food that rate high on GI scale, it helps to slow the digestion of the overall food you eat.

How can this be good? Well, slower digestion clearly means you will be less hungry and feel more satiated.

More importantly, this helps you achieve great appetite control and manage the glucose level in the case of type 2 diabetes.

It slows the rise in your glucose level that happens after meal consumption.

Overall, cashews are also known to be helping in weight management. So if you want to lose or manage your weight, moderate cashew consumption is your ally.

Eating Cashews Reduces The Risk Of Gallstones

According to a study conducted at Harvard, it is stated that some nuts like Cashews lower the risk of gallstone formation in your body by upto 30%

The good fat of the cashews lowers the cholesterol and also manages the cholesterol level in the bile as well.

Then, there is high fiber in cashews further reduces the requirement for bile acids for circulation and hence, also lowers the building up of gallstone.

Cashews Are The Excellent Source of Copper

Your body needs copper as it plays a crucial role in an extensive range of physiological conditions and processes goes around.

These processes include removal of free radicals in your body, blood and connective tissue development, skin development, hair pigmentation, and more.

If your body goes copper-deficient, there are multiple health problems you can face such as joint issues, brittle bones, heart irregularities, anemia, osteoporosis, and vulnerability to infections.

For an adult, doctors recommend 900 micrograms of copper on a daily basis where only 15 to 17 cashews of approx 30gm weight will give you 600 micrograms of copper.

So an only a handful of cashews single-handedly can resolve your copper requirements for the body

You Get So Much Variety To Consume It

Cashews are delicious just as they are, even if you don’t fry, saute or flavor it at all.

But they certainly have so much variety and options in a way you can consume it whether you prefer sweet, spicy, tangy, or salty.

Not just that, you can turn it into oil or crush it and mix it with water to make cashew milk which is again so delicious to drink.

Cashews can also be used to create sweets further using cashew butter which is also made of cashews.

Not to forget how tasty it becomes to mix it with chocolate and put it in smoothies, cakes, pudding, biscuits, and cookies.

If that isn’t enough for you, there are hundreds of recipes to make dishes using cashews, you can try those too.

Cons of Eating Cashew Nuts

Cashew Contains High Sodium Content

Sodium which is also known as Salt has a negative effect on heart health when you consume it more than required.

It basically increases the blood pressure that results in fluid retention increasing the chances of having a stroke.

If you take 30 gms of cashews, it contains 3 mg of sodium whereas the recommended daily dose suggested is 1,500 mg.

So this might not sound too bad but you also have to consider fact how much sodium you are already intaking from other meals and food consumed on that day.

On top of that, eating more cashews can increase your sodium level. Moderation can certainly help here or at least you can try not to have fried salty cashews.

Cashews Can Cause Allergies

Nut allergies are quite common and hence cashews which might not have all the traits of tree nuts still present the scenarios of allergy risks.

So if someone has allergies to nuts like peanuts or any other tree nuts, cashews can cause some serious problems for them.

Even someone with pre-existing legume allergy needs to be careful with intaking Cashews.

You need to be very careful before you intake cashews, especially if you haven’t tried it yet due to your nut allergy.

It is highly recommended to consult a doctor in any case of serious allergies.

Cashew Interfere With Medication

Vitamin K is found to be high in Cashews which often interferes with anticoagulant effects of a compound found in medications also known to be blood thinner.

Cashews are also high in magnesium, so anyone who is taking their medication for high blood pressure might go under different impacts as they interfere due to cashews.

The same can happen with diabetes medication where the cashew can cause problems and create trouble in the effect of the medicine.

Cashew Increases Migraine Activity

If you research this, you would find a contradiction in this idea as there are two schools of thought on it.

The first one states that due to the availability of high levels of copper, selenium, zinc, and magnesium, cashew can help reduce the severity and frequency of migraines.

The second school of thought completely contradicts it saying that people who are allergic or have hypersensitivity to nuts seem to find their migraine severity increased.

So it can be negative in some cases while won’t be in others. But mostly due to its capability to increase the severity of migraine activity, it is safe to count it as a disadvantage.

Cashew Is Poisonous in raw state

Now, this is not a direct disadvantage of Cashew, as the poisonous character is only seen in its raw form, not in the form it Reaches you to eat.

But the effect has been seen in the manufacturing of cashews, in the farming and harvesting processes, it releases caustic acid that can burn the skin while it shelled.

So, the raw cashews are not safe to touch without care, far from eating. It is only when it is shelled and the toxin present in its shell known as urushiol which is similar to poison ivy, it becomes safer to further move into the process.

Even after that, it is streamed and well processed to make it edible.